CRITICISMS OF AUDIENCE STUDIES IN CULTURAL STUDIES

Abstract

Audience studies is one of the specialized study subjects of the Cultural Studies school. Mass media are discussed under this title, and television is the most important mass media tool as of the emergence of the school. In the audience studies, the relationship of television with cultural, sociological and ethnic structure, its capacity and form of building culture through language, and its social function in economic and political terms are emphasized. In these studies, linguistic analysis method was used by making use of empirical data. It is seen that the audience studies are shaped around the economic-political interactions of social elements that are transitive with each other such as ethnicity, family, social classes, generational conflict, subcultures, patriarchal structure, feminism and daily life practices. In addition to providing important gains in the field of social sciences, it has been criticized in many ways. In this short study, these criticisms are emphasized.